Good-quality coffee can be produced from drying patios, raised beds, or machine dryers.
When drying coffee on the ground, the layer of beans should be no deeper than 5 centimetres (2 inches) for fresh cherries and 2.5 centimetres (1 inch) for wet parchment.
1 tonne (1.12 US tons) of fresh cherries being put through the natural process require 20 square metres (215 square feet) of drying area.
One tonne of pulped coffee needs far more room to dry: 80 square meters (861 square feet) of drying area are needed for coffee at a depth of 3–4 centimetres (10–12 kg wet parchment/m²).
Optimum drying time for wet parchment is approximately 14 days though best practice is open to debate and depends on local conditions.